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U.S. Needs to Let More Workers In

With Congress’ battered Democratic majority needing a
base-energizing success to take into the fall elections — and
with climate-change legislation stumbling badly out of the gate
— party leaders suggested last week that they may bring
immigration reform in from the cold this year after all.

It would be a good choice for Democrats. If a few Republicans
can be persuaded to consider immigration reform on its merits
— and not through the xenophobic lens of a noisy minority
within their base — President Obama could score a legislative
victory in a filibuster-free walk.

The evidence favoring immigration reform is stark in a way that
ought to appeal to Republicans. A robust temporary-worker program
would reduce illegal immigration and add billions of dollars in
productivity to the U.S. economy.

The key to reducing
illegal immigration will be a strong temporary-worker
program.

Without immigration reform, the problem of illegal immigration
will only grow worse as the U.S. labor market slowly recovers from
the recession. The number of illegal immigrants in the United
States has dropped to 11 million from its peak in 2007, but it will
likely begin to grow again as demand for less-skilled workers picks
up with the economy.

The economic and demographic realities that have fueled illegal
immigration are still in place. In normal years, the U.S. economy
produces hundreds of thousands of new jobs in retail, landscaping,
food preparation and service, and home and commercial cleaning, all
of which attract immigrants with limited job skills.

At the same time, the number of native-born Americans satisfied
with such jobs continues to decline as the population becomes older
and better-educated. The number of adult Americans without a high
school diploma is expected to drop by another two to three million
over the next decade. Yet our immigration system offers no means
for a sufficient number of foreign-born workers to enter the
country legally and fill that gap. So they enter illegally.

The key to reducing illegal immigration will be a strong
temporary-worker program. This has been the missing ingredient of
past efforts.

The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act legalized almost
three million illegal immigrants. It also ramped up enforcement
through increased border patrols and sanctions against those
employing illegal workers. Yet it contained no provision for
expanding legal immigration. Today, everybody agrees the act was a
failure.

We know from experience that expanding opportunities for legal
immigration can sharply reduce illegal immigration. In the 1950s,
Congress dramatically expanded the number of temporary-worker visas
through the Bracero Program. The result was a 95 percent drop in
arrests at the border. If Mexican and Central American workers know
they can enter the country legally to fill jobs, they will be far
less likely to enter illegally.

A workable temporary-visa program would allow border agents to
concentrate their efforts on intercepting real criminals and
terrorists at the border. It would also reduce the temptation to
hire illegal workers, in turn reducing the need to raid workplaces
and impose national ID cards, employment verification systems, and
other burdens on American citizens.

Allowing more legal workers to enter the country would also
boost the productive capacity of our economy by allowing important
sectors to expand, creating more middle-class employment
opportunities for Americans. A 2009 Cato Institute study predicted
that a sufficient temporary-worker program would boost the real
income of U.S. households by $180 billion a year. A January study
by the Center for American Progress came to a similar
conclusion.

Enforcing a flawed immigration system has wasted tax dollars,
frustrated the public, and created an underground labor force
living in a legal twilight zone. The answer is comprehensive reform
offering earned legalization to the millions of undocumented
workers already here, temporary visas to new workers to meet our
future labor needs, and sensible enforcement aimed at the remaining
small minority that refuses to work within the new system.

The president and lawmakers from both parties need only look at
the available data to find the path to effective immigration
reform.